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DIPLOMACY:
MEKONG-GANGA
River
Sutra
The
Mekong-Ganga Cooperation marks a new chapter in India's renewed engage-the-East
diplomacy
By S.
Prasannarajan in Vientiane
When
the river-rafting diplomacy took Jaswant Singh all the way to the Laotian
capital of Vientiane on the Mekong, somewhere far away from the tropical
remoteness of what was once known as Indochina, a river of irony was flowing
to nowhere. For, as he went on to decipher the footprints of commonly
shared civilisation on the Mekong, two Americans were struggling with
their presidential fatelines on the Potomac. Singh, as a citizen of the
largest democracy, also as the chief architect of the new Indo-US engagement,
could not have missed the situational contrast: when you are on the right
side of history with the world's only superpower, it's all thrill and
unpredictability; when you are on the right side of the river, there is
an overwhelming sense of familiarity.
 |
| Singh
and his Mekong partners signing the Vientiane declaration |
The familiarity
was transparent as Singh supervised the Ganga-Mekong confluence on November
10 in Vientiane, and he wrapped the geopolitical importance of the moment
in civilisational fraternity. The Vientiane declaration on Mekong-Ganga
Cooperation (MGC) marked the triumph of Singh's remember-India diplomatic
initiative in a region which has, for so long, been so near and yet so
far in the mindset of the Indian establishment. When Singh dedicated MGC
to "the memory of a great and inspiring past", he was only underlining
this new Indian sentiment of "the East matters". The Mekong
basin countries-Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam-were only
too happy to engage with the Ganga country. Not entirely because the name
Mekong, according to some interpretations, is a linguistic variation of
Ma Ganga. The Mekong enthusiasm, which was overflowing in the Grand Ball
Room of Hotel Lao Plaza in downtown Vientiane, was a tribute to the rising
Indian relevance in Asia.
This relevance
should not be measured in the areas of cooperation alone, however important
they may be. Still, in the areas of tourism, culture, human resources
development and transport and communication, the new found cooperation,
to quote Singh, "will be, and is a revival, in the present-day context,
of an interactive vitality that has proven itself in the past, and can
culturally and commercially energise us afresh." But the significance
of MGC lies beyond the signed agreements. Singh's river yatra has its
origin in India's desire to expand its spheres of influence and re-assess
its terms of participation in the culturally near abroad.
The Mekong
project is Singh's baby-who says that he has forgotten the world next
door while romancing the Wild West? The idea was born during Thai Foreign
Minister Surin Pitsuwan's visit to Delhi in July. At that time it was
supposed to be the Ganga-Mekong Swarnabhoomi project-civilisationally
similar India making a joint effort in cultural and educational promotion
with the five Mekong-basin countries of the ASEAN. A few days later in
Bangkok, on the margins of the ASEAN post-ministerial conference, the
Mekong Five and India formally endorsed the project. By the time it reached
Vientiane for the official declaration in the presence of six ministers,
the Ganga lost its first-word status, Swarnabhoomi was dropped and Cooperation
replaced Project.
For India,
it's more than the passive look-east diplomacy. It's about making the
East a vital part of Indian foreign policy. India may not be the most
evolved economy in Asia, but it certainly is the most evolved democracy
in Asia-and that's some moral superiority. Today, India as a dialogue
partner no longer treats the ASEAN as a club of marginal influence. India
has acquired the confidence to assert its legitimate Asian role, and it's
ready to reach out. The West, the natural ally, has already taken note,
and the East, the civilisational ally, cannot ignore. The Mekong could
not have missed this quiet Ganga message.
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